The Function of The Sublime in The Baroque

The term ‘sublime’ was popularized by Edmund Burke’s philosophical enquiry in 1757 where he spoke of the sublime as something more than just a rhetorical idea as it was presented by Greek philosophers. This lead to many divergences from the sublime, including: the ‘terrible sublime’. The terrible sublime has been subtly referenced since the first mention of the sublime, however it gained attraction in the baroque era where art turned more gruesome yet society celebrated it. This dissertation will be looking at the writings of Burke and how his philosophy links societal influences to how we respond to the sublime within art works in the Baroque Era; more specifically, Burkes’ ‘On the Sublime and Beautiful’ and Kant’s ‘The Critique of Judgment’ who offers a different opinion of the sublime. I will also be looking at artists Caravaggio and Rembrandt, alongside play-write Shakespeare as some of the most prominent Baroque practitioners and how they use the sublime to create work which is awe inspiring yet invokes a sense of gruesome fear. The purpose of the sublime is to present the viewer with their own sense of fragile morality, which play-write Shakespeare does, and to draw to the idea of a morbid curiosity. I want to focus on the sublime in the baroque era as this was the beginning, the start of the fascination with pain and death and all things gruesome which are supposed to be feared and yet, as the viewer, you can't help but be drawn to it.